Robert Service

The following obituary appeared in the Pittsburgh
Sun-Telegraph of Sept. 16, 1958: A GREAT POET died last week
in Lancieux, France, at the age of 84.

He was not a poet's poet. Fancy-Dan dilettantes will dispute
the description "great." He was a people's poet. To the
people he was great. They understood him, and knew that any
verse carrying the by-line of Robert W. Service would be a
lilting thing, clear, clean and power-packed, beating out a
story with a dramatic intensity that made the nerves tingle.
And he was no poor, garret-type poet, either. His stuff made
money hand over fist. One piece alone, The Shooting of Dan
McGrew, rolled up half a million dollars for him. He lived
it up well and also gave a great deal to help others.

"The only society I like," he once said, "is that which is
rough and tough - and the tougher the better. That's where
you get down to bedrock and meet human people." He found
that kind of society in the Yukon gold rush, and he
immortalized it.